Lipscomb reaches out to Tennessee to fill vacancy on men's basketball staff

Wednesday, June 20, 2012 at 9:27pm

Staff reports

For the first time in five years, there’s a new face on the Lipscomb men’s basketball coaching staff.

Coach Scott Sanderson announced the hiring of 28-year-old Ryan Cahak on Wednesday. Cahak joins the Bisons after two years as a graduate assistant at Tennessee.

A native of Syracuse, N.Y., Cahak went to Syracuse University and walked on to the men’s basketball team, playing for three years under coach Jim Boeheim.

He spent one year as the director of operations at Colgate before landing at UT. With the Volunteers, he worked with the post players, including 2011 first-round pick and Milwaukee Bucks forward Tobias Harris.

“Ryan has been with some really good people,” Sanderson said. “He played for Jim Boeheim at Syracuse and has worked under Bruce Pearl and Cuonzo Martin. Those are some really good basketball genes in my opinion. He’s been around some really good basketball people with different philosophies on how to do things differently. I think that’s a big asset for Ryan.”

Cahak replaces Jay Walton, who took a sales job with Nashville Sporting Goods last month. Lipscomb went 13-18 last year and tied for sixth in the Atlantic Sun Conference. Sanderson dismissed four players, leaving just nine on the roster by the end of the season.